MetLife, Discover, American Airlines price; Actavis megadeal on deck; Discover, MetLife firm

By Aleesia Forni and Cristal Cody

Virginia Beach, March 2 – MetLife Inc., Discover Financial Services and American Airlines, Inc. sold new bonds on Monday, while Actavis plc announced plans to price a megadeal later this week.

Actavis set price talk for what sources expect to be around a $20 billion offering in order to fund its acquisition of Allergan Inc.

The deal’s size would make it the second-largest bond deal ever, coming in behind Verizon Communications Inc.’s $49 billion offering, which priced in eight tranches on Sept. 11, 2013.

Orders poured into the company’s planned offering, which attracted a book that was more than $80 billion, according to a market source.

In new issue happenings on Monday, Discover Financial priced a $500 million offering of 10-year notes.

American Airlines sold roughly $1.2 billion of pass-through certificates during the session, while MetLife Inc. issued $1.5 billion of senior notes in two tranches.

Also on Monday, Germany’s KfW set talk for a planned 18-month offering of notes that is expected to price later this week.

Investment-grade bonds were mixed in the secondary market, sources said.

Discover Financial’s 3.75% notes due 2025 tightened 3 basis points in aftermarket trading.

MetLife’s two-part offering of senior notes traded about 2 bps better in the secondary market.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index headed out less than 1 bp tighter at a spread of 61 bps.

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